Emperor and its female counterpart Empress is a royal title for a ruler of an empire, this title is very important in both politics and mythology.
Names[]
Nomenclature[]
The word Emperor is an English word, that was adopted from the old French word empereur, that evolved from the Latin word imperator.
Synonyms[]
The word emperor has several synonyms from different cultures and languages, due to their history, it varies depending on the etymology from the cultures.
- King of Kings - An Iranian title for the Rulers of Persian empires, later adopted by Jews and Christians for Yahweh and Jesus respectively.
- Kanghan - A Turco-Mongol title for a Khan with major range, used by some Mongols rulers like Genghis Khan.
- Pope - A catholic title for the pontifex maximus, usually translated as Emperor in East Asian countries.
- Caesar - The name of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar used as synonyms for Emperor, the Latin word Caesar evolved into the Germanic Kaiser and Slavic Tzar.
- Chakravarti - An Indo-Aryan term similar to Emperor.
- Khalifa - An Islamic term for both successor and leader.
In religion[]
Bloodline[]
Several countries had a myth in where its emperors are from a legendary bloodline, for example the Ethiopian Emperors have as their ancestors, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, meanwhile the Japanese Emperors are said to be descendants of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun.
Deities[]
In some mythologies like the Chinese, the emperor is the ruler of all Gods like the Jade Emperor, even some Roman emperors were worshipped like gods, such as Julius Caesar and Augustus. The Greeks had one instance in which Alexander the Great was worshipped as a god.
Christianity[]
Pontifex maximus was originally a title for the Roman emperors and high ranking priests (flamen) but that is now used by popes, Guglielmo Ferrero claims that the Catholic popes are the continuation of the roman emperors.
Some Roman Emperors like Constantine the Great are venerated as saints.